Wind and solar energy accounted for a quarter of electricity in the EU in recent months
Wind and solar energy accounted for 24 percent of Europe’s electricity supply from March to September. Wind would have generated 192 TWh of electricity, solar energy 153 TWh. As a result, Europe has avoided 99 billion euros in gas purchases.
According to think tanks Ember and E3G last year a total of 345 TWh of electricity was generated in Europe by wind and solar energy. That is 39 TWh, or 13 percent, more than in 2021, according to the think tanks. Without the share of wind and solar energy, the European Union would reportedly have had to purchase 690 TWh of gas to generate electricity. That would have resulted in a cost of approximately 99 billion euros. Due to the increase of that 13 percent in 2022, the EU has saved an extra 11 billion euros on gas this year compared to last year, according to Ember and E3G.
The think tanks believe that 19 countries in the European Union have broken a record for generating electricity from wind and solar energy. For example, Poland would have generated 5 TWh more electricity compared to 2021. That accounts for 48.5 percent. Spain has reportedly generated 7.4 TWh more electricity this year and Germany is said to have generated 5.4 TWh more electricity from wind and solar power.